Quoted: Jack Dorsey talks Square and town squares

“No matter how much of our life moves online, we’re always going to have our favorite places around the corner from us. I think we’ve seen a diminishment of the town square: the coffee house, the bar, the salon. They connect us, not only to that shop owner, but to the community itself.”

— Jack Dorsey, CEO of Square, on why the payments provider is hosting “Let’s Talk” events in certain cities. The events aim to bring local business people together to talk about their communities. Among San Francisco-based Square’s customers are small businesses and merchants. Dorsey says, “St. Louis, Detroit, Toronto, New Orleans, the Bronx, Minneapolis [are] all places that have seen good times and bad times, a lot of bad times recently. And we think sellers and merchants can help fix it.” In California, Square has made the rounds in San Francisco — where some residents have questioned the tech industry’s sense of civic duty — Oakland and Stockton.